Smart window startup View kicks into overdrive with $100M from Madrone (those Walmart guys)
Summary
That’s why on Tuesday seven-year-old dynamic window maker View (formerly called Soladigm) announced that it’s raised a $100 million round from private equity firm Madrone Capital Partners to scale up its business. The coloring effect on the window can cool or warm a room, and can save energy by cutting down on air conditioning and heating. The original core technology came out of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the windows are made by sputtering a 1 micrometer thick layer of tungsten oxide onto a pane of glass. View CEO Rao Mulpuri told me in an interview that the company is now shipping glass that’s 50 square feet in size, and they’ve done 50 projects across North America. But Mulpuri tells me that the company is able to reduce its costs to make the windows as it scales up production, so it’ll be able to generate more revenue for R&D and expansion in the future.